Rebecca Lim was at a parent teacher meeting at her daughter's school, and she was being handed the same reading list that she'd received as a student 35 years earlier.

"Even though the school was quite heavily migrant, or children of migrants, it was a little bit disturbing that they were still getting them to read the same books as when I was little," she said.

"Not much has changed and not much reflects their lived experience."

That moment prompted the Singapore-born children's author to write Tiger Daughter, and on Friday it was crowned Book of the Year: Older Readers at The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards.

"It's a good force for change being an angry woman, that's basically the genesis of the book," she said after her win was announced.

This year's awards were a celebration of Australia's diversity, with four of the six winning books being a nod to multiculturalism. The six CBCA winner were:

Shirley Marr said her book A Glasshouse of Stars was based on her own experiences of coming to Australia as a child migrant.

"Being unable to speak English and just not knowing the culture, and being thrown head first into this environment and expected to swim," she said.

During her post-win interview Ms Marr gushed and said she was "flabbergasted".

"I just never thought my English would be good enough," she said.

Jetty Jumping author Andrea Rowe calls her book her "fish and chip moment".

"I had just licked the potato cake salt off my fingers and I was watching kids leap from the jetty and the thought just came to me," she said.

"This is not just a story about a jetty, it's a story of being encouraged by your friends and embracing the little fears that hold us back."

The words for Picture Book of the Year Iceberg were "agonising to produce" author Claire Saxby said.

While the book's illustrator Jess Racklyeft said the win was a dream come true.

A decade of volunteering with asylum seekers and refugees gave author Safdar Ahmed the inspiration for his award-winning book.

"Australia's policies are actively harming people who come here looking for protection, that the policies have to change and the importance of art and the importance of community in our lives," he said.

"I really hope it gets into high schools, that was always the hope from the beginning."

First time children's book illustrator Michelle Pereira said she was terrified when Hardie Grant Children's Publishing approached her to illustrate The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name.

"I honestly didn't think I could do it," she said.